The old patriarch was surprised by the way this meeting was heading. He thought William would act like any kid, scared and shaking in his boots while sitting in front of him.
Even if Kong didn't see William as a simple kid, he was still a weak spirit master.
Any spirit master below dark gold grade would feel the same. And those in dark gold grade would look at him in respect and veneration.
But what he felt from the little kid in front of him was… Nothing! Not awe, not fear, and surely not getting affected by the pressure of his presence at all.
This was the first time for Kong to meet William face to face like this. Even when he spied on him, he never had the chance to test this kid personally.
"I'm just talking, aren't we here for that?" and as the old patriarch was examining William again, recalling the brief words of the headmaster about how William acted before him when he got mad, the latter responded in such a collected way.
"You do know that you are full of mysteries? In my eyes, you are a hard kid to read," Kong decided to jump over William's unexpected attitude and paused for a moment before heavily adding, "and I hate those with deep secrets."
"Every spirit master has his own secrets. And I'm not different from them."
"But no one has such secrets, or weird ways to do things in our world," the things Kong meant and what William got from his words were totally different.
"Aren't you happy that I saved Berry's life?" As William realised this old man was dead fixed over knowing his secrets, he changed his way from defending by evasion into defending by being bold.
"Don't tell me you did it without expecting any reward."
"I didn't do it for that," William shook his head in disappointment, "I did it for her sake."
"It's love then... Or just a trick to get my clan's trust to infiltrate us later on?"
At this point, William became more aware that something was wrong here. This old man in front of him wasn't fazed by his help to Berry when he mentioned it.
Instead, Kong twisted the entire thing and related it to the dark spirit masters again. And that was something that made William be on high alert.
"Don't get me wrong," William's face turned all serious as he decided to clear such doubts once and for all, "I do care about her. Such a kind hearted spirit master in such a dark world filled with evil intentions and turbulent times are rare."
"I'm flattered by these words. How old are you by the way?"
"Old enough to know my limits," William's answer made the old patriarch gaze deeper over him.
Everything pointed out that William wasn't a simple kid, not even close from being a normal one. Even his selection of words left the old man in front of him puzzled. And such a daring attitude also made Kong not able to decide if he should buy what William said or be more suspicious.
How could a kid be so careful and meticulous about his words, in such a way to show his support to his granddaughter and also draw a line between him and her.
"Don't tell me you don't like my clan's precious gem!" Kong threw in a bait to see what William truly thought about Berry. The old patriarch decided to test Wiliam by handling one troublesome issue at a time.
After all, he felt trying to squeeze the entire truth out from William in one big talk about everything wasn't going to work.
Kong had to take a much slower approach with William, discussing the things that birthed out doubt one after another separately. After all, this little kid proved to be quite formidable in using words, able to extricate himself from any situation Kong forced upon him.
"I can't dream about getting over the clouds without learning how to fly first, right?" And William persisted in his stance to avoid getting more trouble here.
"Such wise words coming from such a small kid… Who are you? Really, who are you?" Kong still pressured William with his cold and hostile eyes.
Even after speaking with Willian for a few minutes, Kong felt the direction this discussion was heading was way off what he initially expected and planned.
And so he asked him directly the most puzzling question he and his friend were trying their best to find an answer to.
"Someone who is just trying to help, someone who isn't on the side of the dark spirit masters. In fact, I'm considering them my sworn enemies," William avoided answering such a tricky question about his true identity and shifted it to stress over where his loyalty lied.
After all, he felt that his loyalty was under doubt by such a scary spirit master, "but we got a problem that needs our attention first."
"That thief you mean?" The old man got what William meant, and also got what he wanted to do by changing the topic in such a sudden way.
But Kong decided to follow William's bait, to close such a matter once and for all before returning back to what truly mattered to him.
"It's not that simple," William shook his head when he felt how lightly Kong was taking this issue, "whoever took these papers knew they belonged to your clan's precious girl. And yet, he dared to do it."
"Such a wrong decision would cost him his life."
"What if he was still in the academy?"
"What do you mean?"
The old patriarch didn't place much importance over this little issue. He knew that William was the one to write these down, and that meant the lost information could be replicated by him.
In his eyes, he considered what happened as a mere mistake, a greedy moment where one of the dirty folks back at the academy lost control over himself and took these papers to inspect them.
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